In Your Dreams
by automatic teller machine
Summary: AU fic. Rating will slowly rise. Madotsuki is a lonely schoolgirl, and today marks the start of a new term. She goes to school expecting the usual, but little does she know it'll be far from it...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: a serious Yume Nikki fanfiction! Keep in mind that I will only update occasionally, because I have other fanfictions and stuff to keep up with. Oh, and I'll try to keep locations and stuff as close to the original as possible, but no promises. The Torinigen won't be in their original spawn points, either. Anyway, this is my interpretation of Yume Nikki, and I hope you all enjoy it!**

**All characters belong to Kikiyama**

* * *

It was the start of a new school term.

School had always seemed like a waste of time for Madotsuki. It was like a cage. Why bother with lessons with a load of other children if the other children had other things in mind?

At least, that was what things were like at Madotsuki's school. Madotsuki could never focus- namely because there were too many things to focus on. She could focus on the teacher, rambling away about algebra at the front of the classroom- or she could focus on introspective Monoe at the front, with her cold attentive stare. Or Dave Spector, a boy notorious for his devotion to stalking Monoe, usually ogling her from his seat next to Madotsuki. Or the gang of delinquents known as the Torinigen at the back of the class, paying attention to each other rather than anything else.

It was no surprise that Madotsuki found herself drawn to the window more than anything else. A lot of people, namely the Torinigen, made fun of her for how often she daydreamed; comparing her to a girl called Kamakurako in the year below who always fell asleep in class. Madotsuki didn't care. She liked to daydream.

The start of the autumn term always meant a frenzy in Madotsuki's household. Madotsuki and her mother and father lived in a rather cramped apartment, so with the start of a new term came a rush of lost books and panicking about equipment and whether Madotsuki's favourite clothes were washed. This panic usually always came from Madotsuki's parents- because Madotsuki didn't care.

This morning was just as tedious as every other school morning. Madotsuki would put her long, chocolate-brown hair into two plaits, and pull on her favourite red skirt and pink jumper with a window design. The equipment she brought to school was the bare minimum- the books she needed for the day, a pencil, pen and eraser, and a flute for her music lessons. Madotsuki didn't understand why everybody panicked about organisation and neatness. It was just _school, _after all. In about four years she would be done with it, and then she could go to college. She had no idea what she would study in college, though. Madotsuki didn't have any interests or subjects that she was interested in- because she didn't care.

"I'm going to go now," she called idly to her mother and father, who were sitting in the living space, watching morning news and reading the newspaper respectively.

"Are you?" her mother replied. "Are you sure you've got everything? We know what you're like, Madotsuki."

"Yes, I have," Madotsuki replied.

"Sure you didn't have any homework you've forgotten?" asked her father.

"Yes," Madotsuki replied.

"Okay," her mother answered, "see you later, sweetie."

"Have a nice day at school, dear," said her father, as Madotsuki walked out of the door.

With that particularly uneventful conversation over, Madotsuki started the walk to her school. The apartment block she was part of was huge; many other students from her school lived in there. Often, Madotsuki would see their friends picking them up to walk with them. Madotsuki didn't really have any friends. But she didn't care.

The closest thing she had to a friend was Poniko Inoue, who lived by the sea. Poniko acted friendly to everyone- or at least, respectful. Poniko was admired much in the way that people admired Monoe: she was pretty, achieved good grades and was polite but preferred to be on her own. Unlike Monoe, however, who never talked to anyone she deemed inferior, Poniko at least had the decency to greet people like Madotsuki on their way to school.

"Good morning, Madotsuki," she said in her upper-class voice, tossing her blonde hair (which was always in her iconic ponytail) back over her shoulder. "I haven't talked to you in a while. Are you looking forward to the new term?"

"Hello, Poniko," Madotsuki replied. "No, I'm not looking forward to it."

Poniko smiled sympathetically. "I can understand why. Those Torinigen- don't they bully you an awful lot? It's not enviable to be on their bad side."

"They do," Madotsuki answered monotonously. Her conversation skills really weren't shining through today, and it showed. Poniko seemed to be trying her best not to look bored.

"But still," said Poniko briskly, "part of what they say is true, you know. You can't keep daydreaming like you do, it's bad for your focus."

And she walked off, leaving Madotsuki on her own- or at least, she thought she was alone. Almost instantaneously after Poniko had walked off, a thin, spindly hand closed around Madotsuki's shoulder, and a tall, gangly boy ran up beside Madotsuki, causing her to yelp slightly.

"The area you go to school?" he asked, gesturing to the tall school building, which loomed in the distance down the road. The boy was clearly foreign. He had fine black hair and pale skin, and his eyes were slightly far away from each other. Madotsuki knew for certain that she'd never met him before; she'd recognise a face like his.

"Uh, yeah," Madotsuki nodded, trying to grasp what he said. "Who are you?"

"Me?" the boy asked. "My name is Michael Sakamoto. But if you call me, Masada, and most people do. Sorry, my English, it still needs work." He shook Madotsuki's hand rather vigorously; the girl smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"My name's Madotsuki," she said. "Are you an exchangee?"

"Exchangee?" Masada echoed, looking confused.

"On the exchange project," Madotsuki explained.

"Oh!" Masada exclaimed, looking as if a light had just turned on in his head. "Yes, I am from the exchange project. Can I call Mado for short?"

"I suppose so," Madotsuki shrugged, unused to being the subject of such friendliness. "Well, uh..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Madotsuki spotted a bus shelter, although that wasn't the thing that was interesting. What she was more worried about was the people that were leaning against it- the three Torinigen girls, Natte, Cheval and Corti. All three had cigarettes in their hands, and had noticed Madotsuki, as well as Masada. Madotsuki could hear several remarks being made about the tall, foreign boy next to her, none of which were pleasant in any way and all of which probably counted as racist. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and even more so when Masada stared directly at Natte, Cheval and Corti, wondering what they were talking about.

"Mado, what are they talking about?" Masada asked loudly, his odd, moony eyes full of confusion. "They so embarrassed you?" The Torinigen girls heard this, and roared with laughter.

"Pay no attention to them," Madotsuki muttered. "Er, none of them are very nice, so it's best if you just, uh, stay away from them while you're here."

Masada made an odd, snorting laugh. "They all feel like a fool. Is that meant to be their nose?" He pointed at their faces, and while it was true that Natte, Cheval and Corti had very long, bird-like noses, Madotsuki wished Masada hadn't been quite so noisy about it. Usually, Madotsuki wouldn't really care in such a situation, but she could see Natte flicking a cigarette lighter in her hand as Cheval and Corti gave Madotsuki and Masada particularly frightening looks, so she decided it was best to get away as fast as possible.

"Oh, I just remembered," she said, with a sudden wave of false cheerfulness. "I have to practise for a triple marathon today. Er... see you later, Masada!"

And she ran away as fast as she could.

The next time Madotsuki had space to think was in History class. Madotsuki did take an interest in history, but not the way it was taught. Why just focus on the things that once happened just because they were important to the curriculum, Madotsuki never understood. For her, History was about exploration and discoveries, not grades.

When faced with a textbook, Madotsuki did not turn to the page she was to go to, which was a page about the French Revolution. Instead, she flicked to the back pages of the book, which were illustrated with colourful Peruvian and Aztec paintings, comparing the differences and similarities. This was much more interesting, Madotsuki thought.

That was when she noticed an odd new girl sitting next to her, who was not confused about why Madotsuki was not on the right page of the textbook. Instead, she was keenly looking over Madotsuki's shoulder, copying one of the pictures on the page into the margins of her exercise book in pencil. Madotsuki looked at her, and she squeaked and put down her pencil with a clatter.

"Sorry," said Madotsuki, "I don't think I've seen you in this class before. Are you on the exchange project?"

The girl shook her head. Her hair was short, brown and framed around her face, except her fringe, which flopped over her eyes. A bobbly knitted scarf was wrapped around her neck, and she wore a woolly hat on her head, even though it wasn't even cold outside. "I'm not an exchangee," she mumbled. "I got moved into this class. M-my name's Mafurako."

"Oh," said Madotsuki, wondering how Mafurako got moved if History classes weren't even put into groups by skill. She silently peered over the timid new girl's shoulder, to see that the margins of her exercise book were filled with doodles. The one Mafurako had copied from the textbook was an Aztec style monkey with four faces. The other doodles were all of differently-arranged blocks and cubes.

Madotsuki didn't know exactly how, but she could relate to Mafurako in a very strange way.

At the back of the classroom, studying of the French Revolution had somehow brought on a conversation about capital punishment.

"I believe it should only be used in the case of serious crime," Poniko said with all her usual primness, although a strange smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"It shouldn't exist at all," another student claimed. "Killing makes you just as bad as the killer in the first place!"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," said Cheval, her eyes drawn to the back of Madotsuki's head.

Half-past three found Madotsuki in the rain after the bell for hometime had rung. There was no umbrella in Madotsuki's bag, so Madotsuki had to start the gruelling walk home in the cold and wet. This, needless to say, put Madotsuki in a very bad mood.

This bad mood only worsened when Madotsuki encountered a roadblock in front of the road she usually took home.

Cursing loudly, Madotsuki noticed a street sign, reading 'Sechs Close'. Reluctantly, she decided to take it, in the hopes that she'd be able to find a side road that would lead her in the right direction.

Sechs Close was a tiny side street, filled with graffiti. The wall it ran against was almost mesmerising, as the rain blurred its many colours into a sort of neon rainbow. The pavement was covered in chalk, which was now a complete mess. Madotsuki was quite enjoying this quiet side-tour, but was quickly put off from that feeling by sensing the presence of somebody else.

"Oi!" a brash voice called. "What do you think you're doing here? This is Torinigen territory, so clear off, yeah?"

Corti.

There was no time to escape. Corti came out from a corner, her eyes catching a particularly nasty spark as she noticed Madotsuki.

"If it isn't_ Mado_," she leered, mimicking Masada's foreign accent. "Me and my girls have a few things to say to you..." she pulled out a knife, "about what your new boyfriend did to us this morning after you ditched him.". It was then Madotsuki noticed a large, black bruise on the side of Corti's head. She didn't bother correcting her about Masada.

"We'll just do the same to you!"

The moment seemed to flit by. Madotsuki noticed a bike leaning against a wall behind Corti. She had to take it, or she would be beaten to a bloody pulp and left for dead in this tiny side-street.

Corti tried to close in on Madotsuki, but Madotsuki knocked her backwards with a feeble punch to where she had been bruised. While she had the chance, Madotsuki took the bike and rode out of Sechs Close as fast as she could, Corti screaming curses and names as she went, until Madotsuki couldn't hear her at all.

Eventually, she found herself in a forest, which Madotsuki was sure she had never been to before. The rain was still lashing down, which made the ground particularly hard to ride on. Madotsuki climbed off the bicycle, deciding to keep quiet about stealing it when she got home. If she ever did.

"Hey!" came a young male voice through the trees. "Are you lost?"

A brown-haired boy in a beige jumper and slacks walked towards Madotsuki, with a friendly smile. "I think I recognise you from school. Are you Madotsuki, from the year above? My name's Shitai."

"Uh, hi," said Madotsuki nervously. It was true, she did know who Shitai was, but she was confused as to why Shitai would even want to help her out. Shitai was in the year below Madotsuki and was popular and attractive. Madotsuki was neither.

"I heard the Torinigen girl yelling at you," he said. "I hate those Torinigen, all of them. Say, you know Monoe Blanche?"

Madotsuki nodded.

"And her little sister, Monoko? Yeah, they were horrible to her the other day, they told her she was ugly and unwanted. She cried for ages. Living with someone like Monoe must give her really bad self-esteem. I wish I was strong enough to stand up to the Torinigen. Actually, there are a lot of people I'd like to stand up to." He gave a nervous laugh. "Anyway, I live near here. I can show you the way home, if you want. Where do you live?"

"Nexus Street," Madotsuki said. "The apartment block."

"Gotcha," Shitai said, with a grin. "Follow me."

Shitai went through a bush, Madotsuki clambering through after him. He staggered up a hill, and came to a gate with a large jellyfish spray-painted onto it.

"Take two lefts, and you should end up at Nexus Street," he told Madotsuki. "Oh, and you might want to take this.". He handed Madotsuki a slightly old-looking umbrella.

"Is this yours?" she asked. Shitai shook his head.

"Picked it up off the floor, actually. See you later, Madotsuki!"

Thankfully, Shitai's directions were correct, and after a five-minute walk Madotsuki was back home. She managed to forge a tale about the roadblock and having to go back the other side of town, knowing that if she so much as mentioned Sechs Close her parents would go berserk.

"I met an exchange student today," said Madotsuki, changing the subject. "His name was Mas- er, I mean, Michael Sakamoto."

"That's nice, dear," her mother replied.

"And I also met someone called Mafurako who has an obsession with blocks," said Madotsuki.

"Uh-huh," her father muttered, turning a page of his newspaper.

"I'm going to go to bed early tonight," said Madotsuki, deciding that the conversation wasn't going to go much further from there. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear," her parents chorused.

Madotsuki stepped into her room. It was small and didn't have much, and the TV didn't receive any channels, but she wouldn't have it any other way. A Famicom sat next to the TV, with a small stack of games at its side. The largest thing in the room was the bookcase, which was stacked with books both fiction and non-fiction, but all of which were thoroughly worn and thumbed. A desk and a lamp stood next to it, also beside Madotsuki's bed- the only place she could truly relax.

The girl kicked off her shoes, and jumped in. After a few minutes of snuggling into a comfortable position, she stared at the door at the back of the room, which led to the balcony. She thought of Poniko, Masada, Mafurako and Shitai, and how her social circle had widened by three people in just one day. Even if the conversation she had with them was brief, some of the loneliness in Madotsuki's heart had gone.

And she fell asleep.


	2. Explanation Chapter

**Explanation chapter**

In case the meanings behind some of the characters don't make too much sense :)

Madotsuki: the heroine. Since most people think she's weird, she doesn't have many friends, or people that will talk to her. I sort of modeled part of her character after Coraline from the book of the same name.

Poniko: a class representative type (although we don't have that stuff in Britain, so bear with me here) She's polite, but can be very condescending.

Masada: a foreigner, because I can't actually make him a spaceman. Thanks to his being foreign, people think he's as weird as Madotsuki, but he takes this as a compliment. His garbled Engrish is like the beeping sounds that he makes in-game in that it can be kind of hard to understand him sometimes. Too many people theorise that he's a teacher, so I went for a different approach.

Mafurako: a very shy girl. She likes blocks and Aztec rave monkeys. I don't think she needs much more explanation.

Shitai: a popular boy in the year below. He's kind of a jerk when he's with friends, but is quite nice, really. He has a crush on Monoko (who will appear later)

Monoe: sort of like Poniko, except she barely talks. She holds a grudge against Shitai due to the crush he holds for Monoko. This will appear later.

Natte, Corti and Cheval (the Torinigen): Natte is the one with the pigtails. Corti has bobbed hair, and Cheval has a ponytail. In case you're wondering how I chose their names, consult Google Translate.


	3. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: interpretations of the characters sort-of belong to me. The characters and settings themselves belong to Kikiyama.**

Madotsuki awoke, the covers and sheets strewn across her bed in a messy tangle of linen. Her brown eyes fluttered open, and pressed shut again, yearning for those treasured five minutes she could spend in bed before she'd have to get ready for school.

Madotsuki would have much rather stayed in and slept than experienced the ensuing moment in which she could vaguely hear her parents yelling her name, and the aroma of sizzling bacon creeping its way through the many cracks and crevices in the door. Begrudgingly, Madotsuki cast off her pyjamas (which, she discovered, were actually the clothes she was wearing the day before, without noticing) and pulled on a green jumper and a pair of ill-fitting jeans. The green jumper had always reminded her of Poniko, who was nearly always wearing some shade of emerald or olive or racing green that stood out against her beautiful, golden hair.

Sometimes, Madotsuki wished she could swap lives with Poniko. The green jumper was the closest she would ever get.

She tied her hair in her signature braids, feeling them bounce against her back as she walked out of her room and into the living space, which also doubled as a dining room in the cramped apartment.

"Good morning, dear," said her mother, who was always cheerful in the mornings, in comparison to her almost still-half-asleep daughter. "We need to get you some new jeans, don't we?"

"Mhm," Madotsuki mumbled, taking a plate from the coffee table that was presumably hers, and eating the omelette and bacon rashers that resided on it with noticeable uninterest.

"Have you got anything nice at school today?" her father asked, ignoring the tired look on Madotsuki's face that suggested she probably wasn't going to enjoy conversation in her current state.

"No," Madotsuki muttered, taking a newspaper from the coffee table and idly staring at it. "Nothing's ever nice at school." Her parents looked at each other in disappointment, as if they were wondering how their own daughter ever got to be such a pessimist. Madotsuki paid no attention, instead her thoughts focused on the heading of the newspaper: "SERIAL KILLER ESCAPES".

Her attention grabbed, she read on.

_"On Sunday evening, police concluded that the serial killer, known only by the nickname of Uboa, has escaped imprisonment and is currently in hiding._

_ Uboa has slaughtered many of the innocent, and his (or her) killings have only been done at night, in complete darkness. Nobody knows the true identity or face of Uboa, because he/she wears a distorted white mask over his/her face, and the rest of his/her body is covered in a black cloak._

_ However, rumours have began to sprout about the identity of the enigmatic and terrifying Uboa, and the one taking the media by storm is this one: Uboa is actually a teenage girl or boy._

_ Witnesses of Uboa's attacks have said, from their hospital beds, that Uboa is quite short for a serial killer, and does not appear to be a fully grown adult. While Uboa has sometimes attacked during early hours in the morning and evenings, he/she has never attacked from the time span of nine o'clock to half past four in the evening- which is the hours of the local school. While this may be a clear coincidence, Uboa seems to attack when there is nobody around, and while the youth population are at school and the adult population are working, the streets seem to be deserted- the perfect place for another murder to happen upon an unsuspecting person._

_ The Uboa case has baffled detectives, and still remains a mystery. The Morning Daily will __continue to present all possible information on this case in the most unbiased way possible."_

Madotsuki's eyes continued to scroll back over the print, reading it over and over. She had never even heard of Uboa before, but she could just imagine Uboa in her head: somebody, about her height, in a cloak and a distorted mask, laughing dementedly as they raised a knife to her throat, with no-one to hear her scream as blood spilled across the floor in the darkness...

Then the voice of Madotsuki's mother rang out across the thought. "Mado, dear, it's time for school." The lake of blood and the dark quickly dissolved into the grey print of the newspaper, and Madotsuki looked up to see her mother pointing to the clock that hung on the wall in the kitchen area. "Are you alright, dear? You kind of dozed off. Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Yeah," Madotsuki mumbled, annoyed at how inquisitive her parents were today as she shuffled into a pair of shoes sitting nearby. "I'll just be off, then."

"See you later, dear."

And Madotsuki was out of the door.

The sky was flat and bleak, like a stone, and the muttering of other people making their way to school sounded like the buzzing of bees to Madotsuki. It was just that too: idle buzzing. Anything anyone was talking about went straight over Madotsuki's head, and she went along the road without taking any particular interest in anyone, her mind still pinned on the Uboa case. She didn't even look for Poniko as she usually did, or anyone else, for that matter.

The loudest buzzing noise seemed to come from a group of boys who appeared to be in the year below Madotsuki's, who all seemed to be making jokes and shoving each other around. One of these boys included Dave Spector, with his large, stony eyes and bulbous nose, who was staring at Monoe across the street as if she were a particularly tasty meal. Another boy was nudging him in the ribs, telling him to leave it off, and after taking a look at his muss of brown hair and unusually smart clothing, Madotsuki realised it was Shitai.

"Hey, Madotsuki!" he called, who had evidently just noticed her. "Did you get home okay yesterday?"

"Yes, thank you," Madotsuki replied, noticing Monoe out of the corner of her eye, who was now staring at Shitai suspiciously, and to Monoe's little sister Monoko, who seemed perfectly unconscious of the current network of stares going on. "Thank you for lending me that umbrella, as well. It was very kind of you. Would you like it back?"

Shitai's friends had now started staring at Shitai in a way very much similar to Monoe, and the boy's eyes flitted between them, Monoe, Monoko and Madotsuki with an anxious sort of glint. "Uh, no. You can keep it. It, uh, wasn't mine." Monoe's stare at this point was sharper than the imaginary Uboa's knife, and her arm was making a sort of tugging movement towards Monoko protectively. "Er... see you later."

And Shitai walked off with his group, still looking anxious as he explained the situation to his friends, who all seemed to find it hilarious. Monoe turned around and looked at Madotsuki, her cat-like eyes narrowing. Monoko gave a friendly wave and a smile, but soon Monoe turned on her heel and dragged Monoko away, muttering something.

People confused Madotsuki.

The lessons of the morning flew by like a hummingbird, and Madotsuki found herself in the lesson before lunch break before she even had time to mull over the events of the morning. This lesson was Art, and much like History, Madotsuki did take an interest in art, but not the way it was taught. Art was more than just painting.

Then again, Madotsuki didn't know whether she thought that because Art lessons limited her imagination too much, or because she just didn't like painting. As she sat there in front of her canvas, frustrated, she could feel Monoe practically emanating smugness from beside her as the tall, pale girl managed to paint every single petal of the still-life flower study sitting in front of them, a feat which Madotsuki didn't quite manage. Madotsuki looked at the blobby strokes of paint on the white surface, and a deep feeling of jealousy brewed in the pit of her stomach.

And that was when she realised that Masada was in her art class, after he sprung out of nowhere and caused Monoe to drop her paintbrush.

"Mado!" he exclaimed. "I have you something to show! In addition, for art classes, I did not know to have you. This is easy!" And then he yanked Madotsuki straight out of her seat, and headed for a small door at the back of the classroom, ignoring the insult Monoe threw at him for disturbing her painting.

The room was completely black.

"Masada!" Madotsuki found herself exclaiming angrily, unsure of what was going on. "Why are we here?" She quickly checked the foreign boy for any masks or hoods, and concluded mentally that he wasn't Uboa.

"Mado, is why so angry?" Masada asked with a frightened sort of yelp, which seemed to be disguised as a laugh. "This is a good thing! I completed all night painting for you this mural!"

Masada flicked the light switch, and a giant Madotsuki loomed on the wall. Except there was something different about this Madotsuki compared to the Madotsuki currently gazing at the mural, dumbstruck. This Madotsuki's face had an odd, rosy complexion, and a faraway, almost dreaming expression on her face. She was framed by Aztec and Peruvian patterns, which, oddly enough, included Mafurako's four-faced monkey from the History lesson, as well as a variety of blocks. And then there was the main catch- the mural Madotsuki's long, flowing hair, almost like a river of melted chocolate descending from her head. It was almost as if it wasn't actually Madotsuki in that painting- maybe a prettier, taller twin sister, with Poniko's type of personality, or maybe Monoe...

"You like it?" Masada asked, his eyes bright and expectant.

"Yes," Madotsuki replied, mesmerised, "it's amazing."

"For the first time in this exchange, in honour of a friend!" Masada said proudly. "All the time - she helps me with the border, a woman wearing a hat and scarf. She was great. She also liked the monkeys and blocks. Also, I'm sorry, hair colouring is not proper shape."

"It's okay," Madotsuki replied, her eyes scanning the hair in question. "Do you paint a lot?"

"I do all art!" Masada suddenly exclaimed fervently. "I paint, weave and cook and I take pictures and play piano! Oh, I like especially the piano."

Madotsuki nodded, and a pregnant silence ensued. There was not much else to look at apart from Masada or the mural, as Madotsuki realised they were in the supply cupboard. She wondered if Masada even had permission to paint a mural on the back wall.

Then the silence was punctuated rather spontaneously by the door swinging open, and a furious exclamation of "Michael Sakamoto, exactly what do you think you're doing to Madotsuki?" There was a rush of cold air from the opening door, and suddenly Masada was being held up by his collar by an infuriated Poniko, her navy-blue eyes spelling rage in all of its forms.

"Poniko?" Madotsuki exclaimed.

"I suppose you can think you can just take her in here for your own sick intentions without getting any retribution, exchangee," Poniko hissed, as if she was one of the Torinigen. "Think again. While I'm here, you will not be taking advantage of Madotsuki's naivete, however easy you think it is."

"I'm really not sure what you are saying," Masada squeaked. "Put me down, please."

Madotsuki was overwhelmed by the sudden rush, and was unused to seeing Poniko display such anger. The situation confused her greatly, and the statement Poniko made about 'naivete' only served to confuse her more. Poniko glowered (which made Madotsuki think she had been taking lessons from Monoe) and dropped Masada on the floor rather violently. She then turned to Madotsuki, with the same pressurising glare that had once been Monoe's signature.

"I want you to tell me honestly," the blonde-haired girl said, with an almost domineering sense of anger, "exactly what he dragged you in here for. Did he hurt you, Madotsuki? Did he?"

Madotsuki looked relieved; Masada, however, looked offended. "Because I am foreign, you must have doubts about me. Such discrimination!"

"Poniko, he didn't hurt me at all," Madotsuki sighed. "He came to show me this mural he did." She gestured at the back wall.

"Maybe next time you should paint it in a place that's less likely to make me think that you're the escaped serial killer," Poniko told Masada, her glare suddenly softening when she saw the painting. "But, seriously... did you do this yourself?" She reached up to caress the painting with an almost childlike curiosity, tracing her fingers around the Aztec-style border. She gazed in amazement, as if she were witnessing a miracle.

"I did," Masada replied cheerfully. "Well, shy hat-and-scarf girl did help with the monkey and blocks. Other than that, entirely my picture of Madotsuki."

"Goodness," Poniko mumbled. "Sorry for how I acted earlier. Now that Uboa is on the loose, and people think he's a student, we all need to be careful, and I apologise. My name's Poniko Inoue." She extended a hand to Masada, which he shook rather vigorously.

"Masada, you may call me," the exchange student said, smiling. "Did you like the picture?"

"How could I not?" Poniko asked. "It was amazing."

"It is good that you are liking the painting," Masada said. "I'd like to make another wall mural of you. That, it is okay?"

"That would be wonderful," Poniko beamed. "But for now, we need to get back to the lesson."

After that incident, Madotsuki did nothing in the lesson apart from stare at Monoe's painting, which was not the same one as before. The previous painting sat beside Monoe's canvas with an odd black spatter on it where she must have dropped her paintbrush. Occasionally, Madotsuki could see Monoe peering over her canvas to give Masada a death glare, who was blissfully unaware of it.

And before Madotsuki could help herself, the words "why were you giving Shitai such looks this morning?" tumbled out of her mouth.

"You must have no idea," Monoe said coldly, her voice oddly quiet. "I do not want such a two-faced coward who can't even stand up to his own friends to start flirting with my younger sister."

"But he did stand up to his friends," Madotsuki mumbled, somewhat intimidated, but irritated at what Monoe was saying. "He helped me yesterday when I was lost, even though his friends all hate me and think I'm weird. He told Dave to stop ogling you, too. He made him stop."

Now the look on Monoe's face was curious. "He... made Dave Spector stop?"

"Only for a bit, but yes."

"...That's nice."

The art lesson continued without another word from either Madotsuki or Monoe, and the students filed out of the classroom for lunch break. As Madotsuki walked out of the door, Poniko pulled her aside.

"I just want to tell you this, Madotsuki," she said sternly. "People think Uboa is a student at our school. These people could be right. Please remain constantly vigilant. If anyone tries to drag you into a cupboard, and they aren't about to show you a mural, you need to run and tell me. Immediately."

And she flounced off.

The subject of Uboa remained in Madotsuki's head for all of break as she quietly ate her lunch alone on a bench. Although the rumor that Uboa was a student her age still wasn't proven, Poniko was being remarkably prudent about it. It was almost laughable how calm, collected Poniko was suddenly so serious after some news that had just broke out yesterday, but in the same way, it wasn't.

To Madotsuki, it was just odd.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Interpretations of characters sort of belong to me. Characters themselves and settings belong to Kikiyama. Pipi belongs to the person on Uboachan who created the Pipi thread. The Urotsuki cameo belongs to whoever owns Yume 2kki (she won't be a regular character).**

Madotsuki's lunch break was uneventful. She had sat down on a bench and eaten her lunch, which was a ready-meal of cold pasta from a local shop, thinking of Poniko's odd new obsession with Uboa. All the other students had seemed relatively carefree about the matter, comforted by the notion that Uboa never seemed to attack in school hours.

Madotsuki, although intrigued by the mystery that lay behind Uboa, was not scared.

She threw the plastic packaging of the pasta meal into a nearby bin, and stood up, wondering what to do with the rest of her time. Then a hand gently closed around her shoulder, giving her an awful shock.

The owner of the hand was a girl. She had an almost unkempt beauty, with honey-brown hair that swept around her face, and her skin was soft and peachy. Her eyes were half-open, and drooped as if still asleep. Madotsuki thought for a minute, and recognised her as Kamakurako from Shitai's year, someone she had always been compared to- and then realised the sleepy girl was saying something.

"Madotsuki," she was mumbling, "please don't stain that nice pink jumper of yours."

"Why?" Madotsuki asked, confused and also irritated.

"I can't say, because you won't believe me, or understand," Kamakurako replied. "Oh, and please don't borrow any of Poniko's clothes, either. Especially if they're not green."

Madotsuki stared in bemusement.

"I'm sorry to tell you this at an inconvenient time," said Kamakurako, "but you're in terrible danger, Madotsuki."

"Don't be so ridiculous," Madotsuki muttered rudely, irritance taking over her usually-stoic demeanour in something she couldn't control. "I've never been in terrible danger before. This is school. The same things happen over and over for no reason, without any change. Unless you're saying the Torinigen are after me...?"

Kamakurako shook her head. "The Torinigen will not be the ones to begin the end."

"Then nothing will happen." Madotsuki shook off Kamakurako's hand, and walked off.

The problem that resided was where to go.

Madotsuki usually just wandered around school until the bell went to signal the end of break; however, today, she wasn't in the mood for wandering after hearing Kamakurako's prophetic ramblings. She eventually decided to watch Masada and Mafurako paint Poniko's mural in the supply cupboard, hoping there'd be enough space for her in the tiny room.

On the way there, she came across Poniko, angrily muttering something.

"What happened?" Madotsuki asked.

"That Michael boy is a complete idiot," Poniko sighed, tossing her hair, "What's the use of being able to paint a surrealist mural of someone really quickly if it's not even of them?" She flourished a hand towards the art room. "Go and see for yourself."

Madotsuki ambled along to the room to see Masada and Mafurako standing there with mixed expressions. A guilty smile was on Masada's face; as if he was trying not to laugh. Mafurako looked nervous, as if she was, on the contrary to Masada, trying not to cry.

"I did paintings of Poniko with long hair. However, seemed more Madotsuki, so you changed," Masada explained cheerfully. "Poniko, that she is the queen of the drama. She is so angry!" Masada laughed, and Mafurako shifted around on the spot.

"It all went downhill when Masada painted jeans instead of that skirt Poniko was wearing," Mafurako mumbled, into the fabric of her scarf. "He was like _'it does not matter, I think it looks like anyway Madotsuki more!'_ and then he started painting you instead, and Poniko got angry with us and said she'd tell a teacher and reprimand us of our permission to paint in the supply cupboard..." She gulped. "I hope she didn't mean it."

"Everything will be fine!" Masada said joyfully. "You much too worry, Mafurako. Must on the focus on the positives! We finish it so quickly! Come see!" And he dragged Madotsuki off to the supply cupboard for the second time that day.

The light switch was flicked on, and Madotsuki saw an identical twin to the mural Madotsuki on the wall, except with an odd quality. The second mural Madotsuki had long blonde hair; almost the colour of gold. Her face was a lot more like Poniko's than Madotsuki's, but still had the dreamy expression that was present on the Madotsuki on the opposite wall.

"Anyway, I never really liked really Poniko," Masada said happily. "So always irritated. Like a woman in the Army. Or my mother." He laughed heartily for a few seconds, and Madotsuki could have sworn she saw Masada look extremely downcast for a split-second afterwards. He returned to his normal jolly expression, and gestured to the border Mafurako had done around the second mural Madotsuki.

"Mafurako, she has the heart of Surrealism," said Masada. "Sometimes, I think of her head and wonder what's going in on there."

The new border was not Aztec-style, and neither was it cluttered with blocks. Rather, it looked as if Mafurako had taken a big brush of glittery, pink paint, and splattered it against the wall several times. Several things were drawn around the splatters; like some party poppers in shades of mauve and salmon pink, and some balloons, some newspapers and... Kamakurako, of all people, sleeping in an igloo.

"I wonder too," Madotsuki said, staring at the replica of the girl she had talked to earlier, who was painted in fetal position, her eyes fully closed. "Isn't that a girl in the year below?" She pointed to the two-dimensional Kamakurako.

"I do not know," Masada shrugged. "I just was at school during the day, you know."

Mafurako helpfully came in at that moment. "He means he's only been at this school since yesterday."

"I knew that," Madotsuki lied. "Mafurako, why did you paint Kamakurako down there? In an igloo?"

"Poniko asked me," Mafurako said, shuddering. "She was really scary about it, too. She really insisted on it."

Masada looked confused. "I did not hear her say that."

Madotsuki remembered the things Kamakurako had said earlier about not borrowing Poniko's clothes, and after her mind did nothing useful to connect the two things but suggest that maybe Kamakurako had stolen all of Poniko's clothes except the green ones, she abandoned the thought entirely and looked down, staring at a manhole pattern on the floor.

"Maybe they're really good friends," Mafurako piped up, "or maybe she doesn't like her, and that's why she's in an igloo...?"

"I'd enjoy being in a pretty igloo," Masada said. "What is bad about being igloo?" Agreeing with Masada made Madotsuki feel uncomfortable, but she had the same question in her mind.

"Well, there's this place near Nexus Street called Winter Street," Mafurako explained, making gestures with her fingers, "and Kamakurako lives there. The houses there are kind of igloo-shaped."

"What's wrong about it, I still will not understood," Masada muttered.

"There's a rumour there, about the ghost of a woman who appears during the winter and makes it snow," Mafurako explained further. "And maybe Kamakurako has a fear of ghosts, so that's why Poniko told me to paint her in that sleeping position?"

There was a silence between the three. None of it still made any sense.

"What about the other things?" Madotsuki asked feebly, gesturing at the splatters, party poppers and balloons.

"Oh, those are things Poniko likes," Mafurako said. "The splatters are meant to be pink lemonade. It's her favourite drink."

And suddenly the mural was a lot less surrealistic, and more like a personal collage.

* * *

The last lesson of the day was Social Studies, a lesson that came under many names for Madotsuki: Citizenship, PSHE (Physical, Social and Health Education), Humanities and Just Another Pointless Lesson.

The teacher at the front wittered on about discrimination and prejudice as if she'd been giving the same lesson for the entire day, which she probably had. None of it was interesting in the slightest to Madotsuki, and she decided to just slump in her seat at her desk at the back of the classroom, and stare out of the window.

It reached a point where Madotsuki was in a state of half-consciousness; she was perfectly aware of her surroundings, but felt as if she was about to fall asleep. In her stupor, she heard the teacher rambling about job-based discrimination, and in Madotsuki's head, she visualised Masada.

_Why am I thinking of Masada? _she wondered. _He doesn't even have a job._

And then she visualised Mafurako too.

_Mafurako doesn't have a job either, _she thought. _She's a student._

Mafurako's crazed Aztec doodles then came to mind: doodles of eyes, of deformed people. They were no longer Aztec style in the slightest; just mutated, horrible chalk sketches on a black wall. Hands where there shouldn't have been hands. Eyes dripping strange liquids. Horrific, multi-legged terrors; nothing remotely human…

The image of the black wall in Madotsuki's mind panned down. It was the wall of a sewer. Madotsuki could no longer tell where her mind was wandering off to at this point. Mafurako and Masada both stood in the sewer, in heavy overalls and helmets.

_But neither of them have anything to do with sewers. _Madotsuki couldn't help questioning her own mind. It was as if someone else had entirely taken control of her thoughts, twisting her views. Madotsuki was no longer staring at a window; now she was staring out of a filthy cubbyhole at her two artistic friends, working in the sewers.

_Am I seeing the future?_

It would have been awful, she decided, if this was the future for her two friends. Masada and Mafurako both had imagination, and unlike Madotsuki herself, knew how to express it. Yet instead of outdoing themselves, wowing the nation, they were working in a sewer, where nobody knew they existed…

The imaginary Masada and the imaginary Mafurako both turned around.

They were both faceless.

* * *

Madotsuki woke up to the smell of furniture polish and dust, and Poniko kneeling down in front of her.

"Goodness, what happened?" Poniko asked. "You just… flopped out of your seat."

"Masada and Mafurako," Madotsuki whispered hoarsely. "They didn't have faces."

Poniko looked remarkably confused for a few seconds, and called to the teacher, "I think she's hit her head."

"Poniko, you've got to listen to me," Madotsuki mumbled, her face feeling raw, wishing she too were faceless so nobody could see the hurt. "I saw awful things. I think Mafurako's having nightmares; she's drawing all these crazy things on the walls and they're all mutilated and horrible and…"

"It looks like you're the one having nightmares," Poniko said grimly. "Miss, can I take her to the medical room?"

The teacher nodded her approval, and Poniko lifted Madotsuki off the floor and escorted her out of the classroom.

"Poniko," said Madotsuki, "why did you make her draw Kamakurako on your mural? Mafurako, I mean."

"Oh," Poniko replied dismissively. "Uh… Kama lives close to me."

"You live on Winter Street?"

"Oh, no. I live on the seafront. Winter Street leads to there; you see. Me and Kama have been close for a long time."

The conversation eventually faltered and faded. The corridors of the school were so blank and barren, compared to the usual buzz. To Madotsuki, it was refreshing, but perturbed her slightly. The footfalls of the two girls could be heard for miles down the school.

After what seemed like ten or so minutes, Poniko arrived at the reception desk, explaining that Madotsuki had hit her head, without bothering to explain what she thought were the after-effects. Madotsuki was about to point out that she had hit her head because of the things she saw, and not the other way round, but was cut off from saying so by the receptionist bustling out of the office and leading her into a tiny room opposite with no nurse-figure present, and a small-looking girl with black hair sitting on a chair, pink in the face.

"Here you are," the receptionist said. "The school nurse isn't in today, but will you be alright just sitting here for a bit?"

Madotsuki nodded feebly.

"Good, good." The receptionist then turned to the black-haired girl. "Monoko, are you sure you don't want to go back to your lesson?"

Monoko nodded, looking very sorry for herself.

"Should I call your older sister in for a chat?"

The shake of Monoko's head was much more enthusiastic. "She'll probably do something stupid…"

The receptionist nodded, biting her lip, and went back out.

"Hello," said Monoko languidly. "I've never seen you in here before."

"My name's Madotsuki," said the brown-haired girl, with an equal amount of disinterest. "Are you in here a lot?"

Monoko nodded. "I lie about hurting myself so I can get out of class."

_I'll have to try that one, _Madotsuki thought. "You're Monoe's little sister, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Monoko replied. "I hate her. She's so always so overprotective. Our parents, they love her, 'cause she's smart and pretty and everything, even though she treats everyone who isn't as smart as her like dung." She stamped the linoleum floor with her foot angrily. "Plus my parents expect me to be all perfect like her or something. I don't _want _to be like Monoe."

"I can understand that," Madotsuki said flatly, remembering the Art lesson.

"And plus she never relaxes," Monoko grumbled, crossing her arms. "She's never in the same place for two seconds, she's always rushing everywhere doing homework and chores and all that. You can barely even get a hello out of her. And plus she always overreacts to the littlest things. I mean, there was this one time I nearly got hit by a car because I ignored the traffic lights. You should have heard how loudly she yelled at me. Everyone stared."

Monoko looked at Madotsuki gratefully, as if she was glad to have somebody to vent to. "Honestly, sometimes I feel like she doesn't really care… and other times, I feel like nobody cares."

"Shitai cares," Madotsuki spoke up. "He realises."

Monoko's eyes grew wide. "Shitai realises what?"

"He realises what living with Monoe does to your self-esteem," Madotsuki said. "He saw you the other day. You'd been bullied by the Torinigen or something, he saw you crying. He says he'd like to stand up to them. The Torinigen."

"Yeah, they're awful." Monoko smiled weakly. "I didn't know he thought that way. Usually, when he's around his friends, he's kind of noisy… and he's friends with Dave Spector. That says a lot."

"He says he'd like to stand up to a lot of people," Madotsuki said, wondering whether she should have been telling Monoko the contents of her conversation with Shitai yesterday or not. "That probably includes Dave, too."

"So how do you know him?" Monoko asked, now much happier. Her head was propped up on her hands in interest. Her inky-black hair was fashioned into two pigtails (one of which was slightly uneven) and her eyes were slightly distant, like Masada's. Madotsuki noted how much more approachable Monoko was than Monoe, and was thankful that at least there weren't two stoic ice queens roaming the school.

"Yesterday, I got lost," Madotsuki explained. "I headed down Sechs Close because the road to Nexus Street was closed, and I ran into Cheval… no, I think it was Corti. Anyway, I got away before Corti could hurt me, and I got lost along the way, into the forest during the pouring rain, but then I found Shitai, and he lent me an umbrella, and showed me the way to Nexus Street."

Monoko giggled childishly. "He's so dreamy, isn't he?"

"Sorry?"

"Oh wait… did I say that out loud? Oops. Anyway, you saw Sechs Close?"

"Uh, yes?" Madotsuki was unsure what was so interesting about Sechs Close. It was just a side street filled with graffiti, after all.

"Urotsuki's done stuff there," said Monoko. "Urotsuki's apparently from somewhere else, but Uro's really amazing. She has this thing where she falls asleep and has dreams and goes places and then she reflects it in her graffiti. Apparently she has this mental illness, though, but she's still seriously good. It's like… you wonder what's going on in her head. So amazing. I wish I could use colour like she does." Monoko then launched into a fit of gushing about Urotsuki, leaving Madotsuki to her own devices until the hometime bell went.

"Please don't tell Shitai that I told you what he told me," Madotsuki murmured. Monoko laughed.

"Of course I won't. See you soon, Mado!"

Madotsuki walked through the school building again as everyone rushed out to go home, and could hear the faint notes of a piano in the distance. Curious, she followed it, and came to the music room, where there was a sole populate: Michael Sakamoto, better known as Masada.

"Hello, Mado," he said cheerfully, stopping his piece of music right in the middle.

"Hello, Masada," she replied, sitting down next to him. "You play wonderfully."

Masada went a ridiculous shade of pink. "Thank you, Mado. Working this piece on for years."

Madotsuki secretly wished she understood what he said, and wondered whether or not to mention the strange vision she had. She decided not to, and then remembered the incident yesterday with Corti.

"Masada," she said, "what exactly did you do to those Torinigen?"

Masada looked confused, his mouth in a tiny befuddled frown.

"Yesterday, I, er, had a run in with Corti," Madotsuki explained. "She had this huge bruise on the side of her face."

"Ah!" Masada exclaimed, seeming quite proud of himself. "I said have likewise, I do all art. Include art of fighting. Tae kwon do, especially."

Madotsuki took a look at Masada. His limbs were long and stringy, and looked in no way capable of even damaging one of the Torinigen, let alone beating up all three easily enough to enrage them.

"Corti is the lead all them to," Masada went on, his spidery fingers skittering across the keyboard. "More than the others she and me fight. I received a nice punch to her head. Natte and Cheval, I to them kicked, until they choked on the cigarettes. It was triumphant."

This new side to Masada almost scared Madotsuki.

"Brilliant for curing trouble," Masada continued casually. "Great opportunity for practise too."

"Uh, yeah," Madotsuki fidgeted in her seat, thinking of something to change the subject to. "How many instruments do you play, Masada?"

"Just piano," Masada answered. His mood seemed to dampen. "Piano is all the parents play to at home allow. My apartment is especially closed."

"Ah," Madotsuki mumbled. "I can play the flute. Sort of."

"Flute is a happy instrument," Masada said, proceeding to stretch his fingers and start madly thumping away at the piano like some kind of madman.

"Anyway, I need to go home now, or my parents will worry," Madotsuki said, shifting out of her seat. "It was nice talking to you, Masada."

She picked up her school rucksack, and headed out of the building, Masada's mad piano bashing echoing behind her until she couldn't hear it anymore.

* * *

Sure enough, the road to Nexus Street was still closed. Madotsuki didn't exactly want to go down Sechs Close again and risk meeting one of the Torinigen, but it was her only choice. She had no bicycle to help her escape in case she did meet a Torinigen, either.

Luckily, nobody seemed to be in Sechs Close. It was a nice opportunity for Madotsuki to look at all the bright shapes on the walls, and all the pavement tiles, un-muddied by rain.

_Urotsuki, _Madotsuki thought, tracing her finger over a pattern that seemed to occur frequently on the walls. It reminded her of a cheek cell from one of her Biology lessons as she remembered Monoko's gushing about Urotsuki earlier.

_"She has this thing where she falls asleep and has dreams and goes places and then she reflects it in her graffiti. Apparently she has this mental illness, though, but she's still seriously good. It's like… you wonder what's going on in her head. So amazing. I wish I could use colour like she does."_

It was a strange musing, but Madotsuki felt as if she could connect. Perhaps, had she got Mafurako's or Masada's artistic talent, she would be able to express herself too. The dream she had of the sewer in Social Studies was horrifying, true, but strangely invigorating. It was like it had set Madotsuki on a new path, somehow.

That was when Madotsuki noticed an odd purple building. It seemed to be almost concealed in the shadows, but despite the almost forbidding appearance it seemed to be a shopping centre of some sort. The letters "EXIT" hung above the door, in rusting gilt lettering with flaking paint that matched the rest of the building.

Out of worry for the possibility that Natte or Cheval was hiding around a corner, Madotsuki stepped into the exit. The room it led to was purple, like the outside, and presented a rather claustrophobic feeling. Some escalators hummed nearby, the faint noises of pop music ebbing above it.

_Maybe I can find another way home if I ask for directions, _Madotsuki thought. _A way home that isn't the forest..._

Madotsuki took an escalator to the ground floor, unaccompanied. This clearly wasn't a very popular mall. But she kind of liked it that way. It was strange, but the purple, claustrophobic feeling gave Madotsuki a feeling of safety. Nobody had to know she was here.

She didn't know anyone that was here, though, either. Only a few people were on the ground floor, and all of them were strangers with their own lives to be worrying about, never mind Madotsuki's own. She decided to ignore them, and find someone else. A shopkeeper, or something...

Madotsuki decided to wander around aimlessly, around the halls of the shopping centre, until she found an answer to her problem; which thankfully came quickly: an information kiosk.

A teenage girl sat at the kiosk, a greenish drink clutched in her hand. She was angry; burbling things that Madotsuki couldn't understand. Her nose was hooked, and her eyes were bulging, as if she was drunk. A sofa was next to the kiosk, on which an odd man sat. The man wore a turtleneck jumper and pinstriped slacks in a shade of purple similar to that on the wall, complementing his dark skin and the odd tattoo that took up most of his bald head, that resembled a backwards 'e'. The most notable thing about this girl and the man, however, was that the man was playing a slow tune on a flute, and whenever he stopped, the girl's seemingly drunken state would worsen.

"Hello, sweetie," said the man, lowering the flute from his lips. "You lost or something? Usually we don't see little girls around here. Well," he chuckled, gesturing at the girl at the information desk, "apart from Pipi, of course."

"I'm no girlie girl, you stupid man," Pipi snarled, downing the rest of her green liquid. "I'm Torinigen material... Torinigen material..." She hiccuped, landing her glass on her desk with a spectacular thud, and started sobbing. "Stupid Corti. Stupid Natte and Cheval. I'm just as Torinigen as they are... I need more... need more _drank..._"

"Ignore her," the man whispered. "What brings you here, sweetheart?"

"I need a way to get to Nexus Street," said Madotsuki. "A quick way, that isn't through the forest."

The man thought for a while. "I'm afraid there isn't. I heard about the road closing... must be why you're here, eh, sweetheart?"

Madotsuki nodded.

"Well then, take my advice," the man said, leaning forward and ignoring Pipi's cries for more drink. "The Torinigen like lurking around here." Pipi shrieked and wailed upon hearing the name, but the man continued to ignore her. "There's a certain art to avoiding those Torinigen... somewhere around the wild part of town, in the cemetery, there's a man who can teach you how to feel invisible. Very hard to find him, though."

Madotsuki thought that going to the other side of town- a thicket of overgrown grass and rubbish dumps- was probably more dangerous than Sechs Close in the first place, but she continued to listen to the tattooed man.

"It's a spiritual thing. If you're coming here of all places, I reckon you're a different kind of kid. You should be able to get it easily. Hmmm..." The man reclined back on the sofa, and continued to play his flute, hushing Pipi's screams into small whimpers. "Not every day we meet a girl like her, eh, Pipi?"

Pipi sniffed feebly and shoved a notebook towards Madotsuki. "Take it," she mumbled tearfully. "Don't need it no more."

"If I were you, I'd use that for something special," said the man. "Like dreams. Ideas. Places you've visited. After all, it's not every day ol' Pipi decides to give out free stationery." He grinned, and Madotsuki started to walk home.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: characters, effects and settings belong to Kikiyama. The interpretations of them are my idea.

"_On Tuesday, Masada and Mafurako did two murals. Both of them were of me. In one of them I had long hair. In the other I had blonde hair."_

"_The day before that, I was cornered by Corti in Sechs Close. I managed to escape by hitting her where she had already been bruised (by Masada) and stealing a bicycle nearby. I don't think it was anyone's. Right now it's hidden in the bin area down the sides of the apartment block for safekeeping."_

"_When I escaped from Corti I rode the bike into the forest, where I met Shitai. He was surprisingly kind about the situation and gave me directions home, as well as an umbrella to keep off the rain. It wasn't his umbrella, he had just picked it up off the floor somewhere, but it was still very nice of him."_

"_Also on Tuesday, I fell asleep in Social Studies. I saw a vision of Masada and Mafurako faceless, working in the sewers. Poniko thought there was something wrong with me and took me to the medical room."_

"_And in the mall, I spoke to a man. He had a flute. The song he played was relaxing."_

Madotsuki stopped, her pen hovering above her new notebook, given to her by Pipi at the department store. There was something- a sort of subconscious link- that was making her record these events occuring over the last two days in particular, but what was it?

Things that she had stolen?

No, it was impossible to steal a vision, or a conversation. And she never stole the two murals.

People she had met?

No, she knew Masada, Mafurako and Corti before those events.

Rain trickled outside, drumming on the balcony door. Madotsuki liked the rain, and the cosy feeling it presented. When she was inside, that was. She found it helped her think- but not at the moment.

She stared blankly into her bedroom carpet; a second-hand rug patterned with Peruvian designs that her parents had found in a small bazaar overseas. Madotsuki genuinely did not know what it was that made her want to record those events in her notebook. But there was definitely one thing all events had in common- inside her mind, there was a glimmer of emotion that sparked whenever the events happened. With the murals, it was awe. During the calamity at Sechs Close, it was panic. In the dream, she was sad for the wasted talents of her two friends. When Shitai had given her the umbrella, she had felt pleased, and when talking to the man with the flute, she had felt interested. Usually, Madotsuki's life was mundane, and people had always said her manner of talking was dry and emotionless as a result of the pessimism that came with such a repetitive lifestyle. But those events had opened her eyes a little.

Madotsuki smiled, cast away her notebook and pen, and sat down at her television, which had a Famicom plugged into it. She switched it on, and then switched on her Famicom. The menu buzzed in front of her, a short chiptune melody accompanying it. Madotsuki picked up the controller, and selected the only game option on the menu: NASU. NASU was probably as simple as video games got, as far as Madotsuki was concerned. It had no real goal: the player controlled a little red man with a big nose, and eggplants would fall from the sky, which the player would collect by jumping. Missing one eggplant would mean a game over. NASU was an extremely boring game.

This did not stop Madotsuki from playing it for an extremely long time, until the little black numbers on her digital alarm clock read "11:23PM".

Putting down the controller, Madotsuki took off her clothes and put her pyjamas on, clambering into bed as NASU's simplistic 8-bit background music bounced around her head like a particularly annoying bluebottle. She closed her eyes, closed her thoughts, and fell asleep.

Madotsuki awoke the next morning as she usually did. She took off her pyjamas and put on some new clothes: a brown shirt, a pleated skirt in an antiquated shade of navy, and some plain black tights. She combed her hair and braided it as she normally did, and went into the dining space, where a bowl of soggy cornflakes awaited her.

"Morning, Madotsuki," her mother said.

"Morning," Madotsuki mumbled.

"We've been meaning to tell you," her father chimed in. "Your mother and I are going to a work conference for the next two days."

"Mhm," Madotsuki muttered, through a mouthful of cornflakes.

"So you're going to be home alone."

Madotsuki looked up. "For two days?"

Her parents nodded. "It's really important. We can't pass it up."

"Okay. Is there food?"

"Of course there is, honey. Just remember to never answer the doorbell or the phone, unless it's from us."

"Got it." Madotsuki decided she didn't want to eat any more cornflakes, and dumped the remainders in the bin. She put the bowl and spoon into the washing-up, put on her shoes and grabbed her school bag. "I'm going to go now."

"See you soon, honey."

And Madotsuki was out of the door.

The apartment building was just the same as ever- old, creaky, and smelling of mothballs- but this time it seemed lonelier than usual. Normally, other students from her school would be meeting up with their friends to start the walk, but it seemed they had all gone already.

_I don't think I'm running late, _Madotsuki thought. _Mum and Dad would have noticed if I was._

She decided to think nothing of it- why, maybe she was _early- _and made her way outside.

However, by the ruckus she heard once she was out of the front door, Madotsuki soon gathered that she was not early nor late, but instead about to witness something very interesting that had apparently been exciting enough to garner an entire crowd of students.

The students were gathered around the window of a small shop, watching something with keen interest. Madotsuki noticed Masada and Mafurako (the latter of which had her hat pulled down across her eyes and scarf covering half her face, in what seemed to be a desperate attempt not to be noticed) among the crowd, as well as Poniko, who appeared to be the closest to the window. Shitai's friends were in the huddle too, but Shitai himself was wavering more towards Monoe and Monoko nearby, only occasionally twitching towards the object of interest.

Madotsuki decided to see what the fuss was all about, so she went over.

It was the oddest of things. A little shop (that wasn't there yesterday, Madotsuki was sure of it) was displaying what seemed to be a maneki neko (Madotsuki had read about them) in its window. The maneki had red eyes, and pawed the air mechanically, doing nothing else. Madotsuki had no idea how it was so interesting.

"Hi, Madotsuki," came the voice of Shitai right behind her, making her jump. "Hey, is it alright if I stand here for a bit? Monoe, uh, doesn't really want me around." He sent a shifty side-glance towards Monoe, who responded with a glare that could have killed.

"Of course it is," Madotsuki replied. "Shitai, why do they all find that cat so interesting?"

Shitai looked skyward for a second, as if in thought, then shrugged. "I don't know. It might be 'cause it's the first one of its kind to come to our town or something. I mean, people have always said this place is a little closed-off from other cultures..." Shitai gestured to a lorry nearby, which read 'Hiko-Neko Imports' across a logo of a cat-shaped coin. "They've got a whole bunch of them inside that truck, I'm guessing."

There was a pause, in which Madotsuki couldn't find anything of interest to reply with. Then Shitai looked airily towards the sky again. "Did you know that cats eat frogs?"

"Yes," Madotsuki replied.

"It's true," Shitai nodded. "I mean, you would expect that they wouldn't like eating frogs, because frogs are usually kind of wet, and cats don't really like wet things. But loads of things eat frogs too. Like snakes and dogs and pike and French people."

Madotsuki was nothing short of confused.

"I love frogs," Shitai continued. "I mean, I live near the forest, so naturally I live near a lot of frogs. Sometimes, I wish I was a frog."

"Why?" Madotsuki asked.

Shitai blinked twice, and looked surprised, as if he had completely forgotten Madotsuki was next to him. "Oh, never mind. I'm rambling again."

Madotsuki decided to continue her walk to school, even if she wouldn't be accompanied by anyone, but she didn't really care about such a thing like others did, anyway.

Even so, she decided she would pay a visit to the little shop on the walk home, just because.

Lunchtime found Madotsuki in the art room with Masada and Mafurako. There were no murals this time; the two were just drawing, with Madotsuki sitting next them, staring out of the window. Masada appeared to be drawing a night sky, whereas Mafurako seemed to be drawing some kind of large, iron gate.

"What are you drawing?" Madotsuki eventually asked her.

"It's a door," Mafurako replied. "It's, um, strange, but there's a door a short distance away from my house that looks like this one. It leads to this odd place where Monoe's family live. Once, I tried going through there. The place was really drab, like a desert made of concrete... and then, I saw Dave Spector, and..." Suddenly, Mafurako stopped midway through her sentence, shivered slightly, and continued drawing.

Masada picked up on the awkward silence. "Where I live is very boring. Many industries have happened. Sometimes large fires happen, and nobody cares."

"That sounds like an awful place to live," said Madotsuki, who secretly wished a fire would happen on Nexus Street.

Masada shrugged. "It's not anything. Is much better than my old house, my apartment block. The night sky was still beautiful. I look at my likes to play the piano." He dreamily tapped his pencil on his sheet of paper. "Someday I want to go to space, so I am in the night sky around me."

Madotsuki nodded. Masada continued shading in his night sky, and Mafurako continued to add details to her gate, and Madotsuki just stared out of the window.

_Do I tell them? _she wondered. _Do I tell them about the sewer dream? I mean, Mafurako's here, and she actually has a bit of sanity left, so maybe it won't be so awkward. _

"I had a daydream yesterday," Madotsuki began quietly. "You two were in it."

Mafurako didn't respond. Masada put down his pencil with an excited clatter and gave Madotsuki a 'tell me more' look.

"Mafurako, you had drawn all these weird things," Madotsuki said, unsure of how to phrase it. "They were all... mutated, and had arms where arms shouldn't be, and eyes where eyes shouldn't be, and you had drawn them on a black wall..."

Mafurako looked at Madotsuki, looking slightly worried. To say Masada looked incredibly worried didn't even begin to describe it.

"And then you two- you were in overalls and helmets, in a sewer. Both of you were filthy; there was no-one else in there with you... and then you turned around, and well, you, er, didn't have faces."

"That's odd," Mafurako mumbled.

"Did this yesterday's social studies class?" Masada asked. "Not in your group, I do not know, but I've heard. Everyone was just talking about you. Apparently, you were stunned. Poniko said so. She was so insensitive."

"I know," Madotsuki nodded. "The strange thing is, though, I feel sort of... inspired after having it."

"How do you mean?" Mafurako asked.

"Well... Monoko- you know Monoko?- she was in the first-aid room with me, and she was talking about Urotsuki. Urotsuki's apparently an artist who bases her artwork off her dreams. And her dreams must be really odd, because I saw some more of her graffiti in Sechs Close yesterday. Anyway, I was thinking it's sort of set me on a new path... I want to discover how to express myself."

Masada nodded. "You're a very good decision making. Follow your heart, I remember. Maybe start on a flute.". He gestured to the instrument in Madotsuki's bag.

"I might just do that," said Madotsuki. "Maybe I'll ask the man in the department store who sat near Pipi."

"Who?" Mafurako asked. "What department store? Who's Pipi?"

"You wouldn't know," Madotsuki replied dismissively.

Sure enough, Madotsuki took Sechs Close when it came to hometime, and veered off into the shadows where the purple entrance sat, far away from all the graffiti. The doors opened automatically with a familiar chiming noise, and Madotsuki went in, welcomed by the rumbling of escalators and the claustrophobic purple lighting.

_What was I here for again?,_ she wondered. _Oh, yeah. The flute._

Somehow, the concept of going to the mall only to learn the flute bored Madotsuki slightly. The place seemed vast. There was probably so much to see. And yet this sudden absence of her parents for two days was perfectly timed. Where would she go?

"Back again, sweetheart?" The tattooed man smiled enigmatically up at Madotsuki as soon as she entered the information desk room, as if he'd predicted her coming. Instead of playing the flute to calm Pipi down, he himself was sitting at the info desk, with no sign of the drunken girl. "I'm afraid the roads haven't changed since last night." He smirked at his own joke, and drummed his fingers on the desk. "Pipi's gone, though. Gone to find more drank."

"I'm not here for directions," Madotsuki said. "I'm here for... could you teach me how to play the flute? You know, you played the flute yesterday... and, um, I'd like to learn. The lessons I get at school don't really help too much."

The tattooed man laughed. "Sorry, sweetheart, but you'll have to ask the man behind the man for that one!"

"What?"

"My brother taught me how to play the flute," the tattooed man explained, jerking a thumb towards a nearby door. "He's through there, sitting on the sofa. They call him O-Man, kind of like how they call me E-Man." He gestured to his tattoo, and laughed. "Go see him."

So Madotsuki nodded, and went through the door, greeted by the sight of someone who looked remarkably like E-Man, only predictably his tattoo was in the shape of an 'O', and was purple instead of red. He wore the same pinstriped suit in a bright shade of violet, and was sprawled across a sofa identical in colour to the walls. He was playing a flute, but didn't seem to be putting much effort into the tune. Another flute sat on the floor nearby, seemingly not serving any purpose. Strange posters were stuck around the walls, of things Madotsuki couldn't begin to describe, and probably wouldn't have even bothered trying to work out what they were.

"Who're you?" O-Man asked.

_A greeting would have been nice,_ Madotsuki thought. "My name's Madotsuki. I'm a friend of your brother. Can you teach me how to play the flute?"

O-Man blinked twice, looking confused. "Why would you want me to do that?"

"I, uh…" Madotsuki was about to say _'for my lessons at school'_, but stopped herself. "I want to express myself. I'm no good at painting and my writing skills aren't too good either. So I want to express myself with the flute."

O-Man looked surprised for a minute, then nodded sagely. "Good answer. Sit here." He made room for Madotsuki on the couch, but then pointed to the flute laying on the floor. "You'll need that, though."

"I already have a flute," Madotsuki explained, pulling the disused instrument out of her school bag.

O-Man took a quick glance at the flute, and shook his head. "Rubbish," he said. "That's a recorder, not a flute. Take the one on the floor."

Madotsuki gazed at the recorder in awe, wondering how she'd mistook it for a flute all that time, and then took the flute off of the floor, sitting next to O-Man. "How do I start?" she asked.

"Do what seems right," O-Man answered, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"But-" Madotsuki looked down at the flute, and back to O-Man, and O-Man looked back at her. "I don't understand. Aren't there, uh, instructions to playing a flute…?"

"It's better for your learning if you do it by instinct," O-Man replied. "Anyway, just experiment for a bit, and I'll tell you something."

Madotsuki attempted to do what came to her, and O-Man reclined further on the sofa. "Do you know where we are? Not this department store. Not this street. The place. The city. The town."

Madotsuki was about to point out how towns and cities were different things, but then realised she didn't actually know whether the place she lived was a town, or a city, or even a village. She shook her head.

"Well, it's about time somebody told you." O-Man grinned; his grin was not impish like E-Man's, but actually kind of condescending. He tapped his dark fingers against the wooden frame of the sofa. "This place doesn't have a name. It's just a huge, huge settlement, smack-bang in the middle of nowhere. It's not even connected to the rest of the country- whatever country we're in. Apparently it was formed when people from everywhere and everywhere across the world just came in and built houses, 'cause they needed a place to live. Which could explain your name. Because if I'm not wrong, you're from one of the Japanese families who settled in."

Madotsuki nodded. She lifted the flute from her mouth. "Lots of people at my school have Japanese names. Would that be why?"

"Yes." O-Man nodded. "I've heard a lot about your school. How they think Uboa is one of the students."

"Do you know anything?" Madotsuki asked. "About Uboa, I mean."

O-Man shook his head this time. "I know about as much about Uboa as you do about playing the flute. You're holding it wrong." O-Man made a gesture with his hands to show Madotsuki how to hold the flute, and she copied. "But chances are, with all this press coverage Uboa's getting, he- or she- isn't gonna murder so much, 'cause everyone's going to be on their guard."

"Mhm." Madotsuki thought of Poniko, taking Masada by the neck, and wondered how many more innocent students she'd physically harmed since then.

"So I think what you should do is explore this place."

"How do you mean?"

"Go places. Don't let your ordinary life restrain you. This settlement is a wondrous place. And I want you to see all of it. Take that notebook and record all of the things that stick out in your mind."

"I've already been doing that," Madotsuki said. "Writing stuff down, I mean. Um, how'd you know about that notebook?"

"Pipi told me yesterday," O-Man replied. "She's been giving all her stuff out for a journey or something, it seems, probably for more of that drank stuff. Never tried it myself." He shrugged, and then waved his hand. "That's enough for today. Off with you."


End file.
